The new Tatra FF7 from Fesh Fesh will have to wait until the 2025 Dakar Rally for its first action in the World Rally-Raid Championship. On Thursday, the team announced that due to severe flooding in the Czech Republic, Tomáš Vrátný and the FF7 will not enter the Rallye du Maroc in October. Fesh Fesh will still send a crew to Morocco to support their bike racer Adam Peschel.
Central Europe has been hit by record floods over the past week, caused by unusually high rainfall from Storm Boris. At least twenty-six people have died from the flooding, including five in the Czech Republic, and damages are estimated to be over one billion euros. Austria, Italy, Greece, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia have also reported deaths.
“Unfortunately, the floods have affected the entire OSTRA Group (team sponsor) and our employees, so we now have to focus on this work,” said Vrátný. “Adam Peschel will represent the Fesh Fesh team at the Rallye du Maroc, so keep your fingers crossed for him. It’s a very important race for him!”
The FF7 made its début at the Baja Poland in August, where it finished third among trucks competing in the Polish Cross-Country Rally Championship. It is a departure from Fesh Fesh’s Ford Cargo and Tatra Jamal trucks due to its cab-over design based on the Tatra 815 Puma, while also sporting a six-cylinder Volvo D13 engine with 1,100 horsepower. The truck was revealed in July.
Vrátný was supposed to race the truck at the Rallye du Maroc with Bartłomiej Boba as co-driver and Jaromir Martinec as mechanic. He finished third in the Truck class with a stage win at the 2023 race. With Morocco off the slate, the FF7’s first W2RC start will instead be the 2025 season-opening Dakar Rally on 3–17 January; Vrátný placed fifth in his most recent Dakar in 2023, where he drove the Jamal.
Even without the truck, Fesh Fesh will be with Peschel and his Husqvarna 450 Rally in Morocco. The Czech motorcycle stunt rider, who joined the team in June, is hoping to qualify for the 2025 Dakar.
The Rallye du Maroc is scheduled for 6–11 October.